Overview for Analyzing with Aternity REST API (version
1.0)

You can send REST API queries to
directly extract and analyze Aternity's data without
Aternity's
dashboards. You can combine the data with other data sources if
needed, or transform it as required, then view it in Microsoft Excel, Power
BI, or your own data application.

For example, you can automatically load the data into Microsoft Excel or Power BI by
entering the URL in the format of OData version 4 (Aternity supports only
some of OData's parameters). Then select Refresh to update
with the latest data. Alternatively, a programmer can send an OData URL request
directly from the source code to retrieve the data, and then process it in the
application as required.

Important

This article covers version 1.0 REST API. For new customers, we strongly
recommend using version 2.0 (latest) instead. The latest REST API version supports more functions, provides new
columns and better performance. With the latest version you always extract all
available data and keep abreast of Aternity REST API
developments.

If you use a script to retrieve the Aternity data from
the source code and to integrate it with your application or any other external
system, then you must keep version compatibility. In this case, do not use the
latest REST API version and continue working with the same version you have
already integrated or going to integrate. To view REST APIs in a browser,
Excel, or Power BI, use the latest version.

Access data by sending a URL to a browser, Excel or PowerBI

To view an Aternity REST API,
enter the base URL from User icon > REST API Access, followed by the name
of the API: <base_url>/API_NAME into a browser, Excel or PowerBI
(learn
more). :

The list of all APIs is as follows:

REST API Name

Description

CONNECTION_TEST

Use CONNECTION_TEST to check your connection to
the REST API service. This API (only) does not require a
username or password.

Use ALL_ACTIVITIES to
view all activities reported to Aternity over the past seven days. Use this API to get an overview
of which activities are taking place, their frequency, and
how many users are performing the activity.

Use the
APPLICATIONS_RAW API to retrieve the
raw list of performance reports to Aternity, showing the performance and usage of each discovered application at five minute intervals
running on each monitored device.

Use
APPLICATIONS_HOURLY or
APPLICATIONS_DAILY to view the
performance of each discovered application running on a device,
where the measurements are aggregated per hour or per day,
along with the user, location and device details.

Use
APPLICATIONS_HOURLY or
APPLICATIONS_DAILY to view the
performance of each discovered application running on a device,
where the measurements are aggregated per hour or per day,
along with the user, location and device details.

Use APPLICATIONS_DAILY_ANONYMIZED to
view the daily average performance of each discovered application WITHOUT any PII
(personally identifiable information), hence queries can
have a much longer retention. It returns daily summaries of
each application's performance, along with location and
device attributes.

Use
APPLICATION_EVENTS to return application events which report errors or
check how often someone used a feature in your
application, like accessing the online help. You
create an application event in the Aternity Activity Designer and upload it to Aternity as a custom activity.

BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_RAW returns
the list of activities as reported to Aternity one by one, showing the detailed user experience of
all activities performed. For example, you can
check one, several, or all devices, or any whose hostname
contains the text mktg, for one user or any
combination of users.

BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_HOURLY returns the
list of activities which each user performed in a
one-hour time slot (from o'clock to o'clock), along with the
activity's average performance (response time) the application name, user
details and device details.

BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_DAILY returns the
list of activities which each user performed each day,
along with the activity's average performance (response time) the application name, user
details and device details.

Use
BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_DAILY_ANONYMIZED to
return the list of activities performed each day WITHOUT any PII
(personally identifiable information), hence your queries
can go back further in history. It returns daily
aggregations of each activity's response time the application name and device attributes.

DASHBOARD_VIEWS_AUDIT returns a list
of Aternity dashboards that users accessed over the past seven days,
and the username and time of each access, so that you can
audit or monitor the users who view different parts of
Aternity.

Use
DEVICE_INVENTORY to view all monitored devices which have the Agent for End User Devices locally deployed, and which reported data to Aternity over the past seven days, so you can keep an updated
inventory of devices and their attributes.

Use INSTALLED_SOFTWARE to check the
software present on each Windows physical monitored device, along with its version and
deployment date. It includes all software deployed on the
device but
does NOT include Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
applications (learn
more)..

Use INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG to check
and analyze the installed software related changes on each
Windows physical monitored device, along with its version and
deployment date. It includes all software deployed on the
device but
does NOT include Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
applications (learn
more).

Use
NOT_REPORTING_ACTIVITIES to view all
activities which did NOT report to Aternity over the past seven days, because no one performed this
action, or perhaps because of a problem with the activity's
core definition, causing it to miss capturing an event in
your application.

SERVICE_DESK_ALERTS_RAW returns all the service desk alerts which occurred in your
organization. A service desk alert (SDA) indicates that the same health event occurred
several times on the same device within a certain time. Aternity sends SDAs to draw
attention to devices which suffer repeated application errors, system crashes or
hardware issues. Use this API to analyze for patterns on similar types of
alerts, and to check for correlations with device
attributes, subnet or location.

WIFI_STATISTICS_HOURLY tracks the customer
experience of WiFi in your enterprise by returning an hourly
summary of the WiFi details like its speed, signal strength,
and access points for each monitored device.

API_NOC_APPLICATION_CURR_SCORE is for
companies who want to display Aternity data in their NOC systems. The API returns activity scores and volumes of each application
in each location, in each department within that location.
The volumes and scores are for the past five minutes, the
past hour and the past 24 hours.

SKYPE_CALLS_RAW returns the raw list
of Skype for Business calls. Use this API for analysis of
Skype for Business performance, including in-depth
understanding of factors affecting call quality and the
frequency of dropped calls.

Tip

Wherever possible, use $select and $filter to
narrow your query, to avoid receiving an error like Returned data is
too large. Learn
more.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the following:

To send a REST API query in Excel, PowerBI or a browser, enter the
URL of the REST API, your Aternity username
(must have the OData REST API role) and its password. You can find this by selecting User icon
> REST API Access. SSO users must
generate (once) and use a special password, as Aternity's REST API
does not authenticate with your enterprise's identity provider.

If you cannot connect, try the CONNECTION_TEST API,
which does not require you to sign in. Depending
on your region, try this for my-odata, us2-odata, or eu-odata. For example,
enter
http://my-demo-odata.aternity.com/aternity.odata/CONNECTION_TEST

Some browsers default to XML format, others to JSON. You can force the format
by adding $format=XML in the URL.

Step 2 Select From OData Feed in Excel.

In Excel 2010 or 2013, select Power Query > From Other Sources >
From OData Feed.

Use Power Query plugin to access REST API

In Excel 2016, select Data > New Query > From Other Sources > From
OData Feed.

Access REST API in Excel 2016

Alternatively, if you use Microsoft Power BI, select Get Data >
OData Feed.

Step 3 Enter the URL of the OData API which you want to retrieve.

Use any of the available APIs. For example, to retrieve a list of activities
performed in one hour slots:

In the US, enter:
https://my-odata.aternity.com/aternity.odata/BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_HOURLY
or
https://us2-odata.aternity.com/aternity.odata/BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_HOURLY.
In EMEA, the same request would be:https://eu-odata.aternity.com/aternity.odata/BUSINESS_ACTIVITIES_HOURLY.

Enter the URL of the OData interface you want to retrieve

Step 4 You can add parameters to the URL to filter the
returned data, by adding a question mark (?) followed by a
parameter and value, such as .../API_NAME?$filter=(USERNAME eq
'jsmith@company.com'), or several parameter-value pairs
each separated by an ampersand (&), like
.../API_NAME?$format=xml&$top=5.

For example, to plot the hourly UXI for just one application on one device
called hostname in the past 24 hours, select to view the UXI and its
associated timestamp, and add a filter to return only that application name,
that device name and the past 24 hours.

Use $format to force the returned data to be
either in XML or JSON format. This is only useful for testing
the raw data in a web browser. For example:
.../API_NAME?$format=xml

$orderby=

Use $orderby to sort the returned data according
to the value you choose. For example,
.../API_NAME?$orderby=LOCATION

$top=

Use $top (lower case only) when you are
initially testing the response of the API by returning the first
few entries.

For example, to return the first five entries (not sorted), use:
...API_NAME?$top=5

$search is NOT supported.

Do not use $search in Aternity's REST APIs.

Step 5 If you need to enter credentials, select Basic in the
sidebar.

Enter credentials to access OData APIs

Field

Description

Username / Password

Enter your Aternity username and password.

To send a REST API query in Excel, PowerBI or a browser, enter the
URL of the REST API, your Aternity username
(must have the OData REST API role) and its password. You can find this by selecting User icon
> REST API Access. SSO users must
generate (once) and use a special password, as Aternity's REST API
does not authenticate with your enterprise's identity provider.

Step 6 Select Connect to display a preview of the data to be
loaded.

Tip

If you see an error message that the API is not defined, that
the property does not existor that it is unable to resolve
the type name ‘<API_name>’ to an EdmType, select
New Query > Query Options > Clear Cache.

Tweak the query, or load it as is directly into Excel

To change the API parameters or merge it with other queries, select
Edit.

Step 7 Select Load to insert the data into the
spreadsheet.

View data retrieved from the OData interface

Tip

To refresh the data in Excel from the same URL, select Design
> Refresh.

The columns of data depend on the API request you sent. For more information
on the details returned by each API, see its own article.